Following a user-centered approach to web design emphasizes the importance of the user and makes the website easy for its target audience to operate. Properly implementing a user centered design can encourage website users to stay longer or visit the website more frequently.

Some user-centered web design features include polls, the ability to rate website content or recommended links, and areas for submitting comments. One example of user-centered web design is the feature on RadioShack.com which allows users to rate and enter brief reviews of their products, which is to the benefit of some, but not other, products. The potential for competitors or others to manipulate such features should be kept in mind when considering their implementation.

Another component of a user-centered web design approach is creating the website so that it is appropriately designed for the type of people most likely to visit it. Designers should avoid using words or referring to concepts which the user is unlikely to understand, unless explanation is provided. For example, a webpage providing a basic introduction to photography shouldn’t require the user to answer technical questions about his or her type of camera before being provided with information, whereas this might be acceptable in a website design made for experienced photographers.

The most likely response of users to any website feature or design characteristic should be kept in mind. For example, obnoxious advertisements which interfere with viewing the website may be temporarily profitable, but will discourage people from re-visiting it. If any content might be considered offensive by some users, it should be linked to from a page related to its subject rather than being linked from the home page. It should also be remembered that many users are not willing to adjust settings for their web browsers or other computer settings to be able to view a single website properly.

A user-centered approach can be applied to web pages which are search engine optimized, as well. While designing the pages so that they can be easily found in search results is important, this should not be at the expense of quality; some website designers have placed excessive priority on optimization, causing their web pages to have awkward or redundant wording.

Overall, for a web design approach to be user-centered, there should be some sort of interactivity, the web pages ought to be easy to use and understand, the pages should attempt to produce a favorable reaction from as many users as possible, and the content needs to be useful and of high quality.

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